Newsletter 2
February, 1, 2001

 

NB!

Deadline for application to the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation (Stiftelsen Riksbankens Jubileumsfond): Project outline should be submitted before 1 March 2001, and full application before 6 June (Homepage: www.rj.se).

Deadline for applications to Sida-SAREC: 23 April (Homepage: www.sida.se)

 

Contents
1. Appeal: Anybody studying Bhutan or with contacts there?
2. Course on material culture along the Silk Route
3. Dr. Laksmisree Banerjee will be guest professor in Växjö in March
4. Course on Gender and Infectious Diseases, 19 – 30 March 2001
5. Nordic Centre in India
6. The Tamil Summer School at the French Institute, Pondicherry

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1. Appeal: Anybody studying Bhutan or with contacts there?
Julie Wilk at the Dept. of Water and Environmental Studies at Linköping University would like to get into contact with persons interested in the development in Bhutan and with contacts in Bhutan studies. She is interested in studying the values and views among local inhabitants in relations to the forest and its role in the reproduction of water resources. The Department is trying to develop a program of water research in South Asia and Bhutan is an interesting case because of the abundance of forest resources there.
Contact Julie Wilk: JulWi@Tema.Liu.se

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2. Course on the material culture along the Silk Route
The HSFR program on West and Central Asia during the spring 2001 gives a 5 credit graduate course in Stockholm. It is given in the form of with five lectures/seminars during the spring. Travel costs and food allowance will be granted by HSFR.
Deadline for application is 12 February.
Contact: Annika.Rabo@ceifo.su.se

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3. Dr. Laksmisree Banerjee will be guest professor in Växjö in March
WOULD YOU LIKE TO INVITE AN INDIAN SPECIALIST ON BRITISH ROMANTICISM, WHO IS ALSO A POET AND A SINGER?
In March 2001, Dr. Laksmisree Banerjee, Women’s University College, Jamshedpur, will be guest professor at the Faculty of Humanities, department of literature, Växjö University.
Dr. Banerjee is a specialist on English Romanticist novels. She is also a poet and a singer (Master of Music, Classical Vocal Music, First Class and Gold Medallist), and performs regularly on All India Radio and TV. She has been Fulbright professor in USA two times. Dr. Banerjee lectures on post-colonialism, feminism, and about Indian classical music and ethno-music.
There will be some time for Dr. Banerjee to lecture outside Växjö. Why not invite her for a concert! In April and May she will be based in Copenhagen from where she can also make a visit to Swedish institutions. If you are interested to invite her, please write to her host in Växjö: Dr. Margareta Petersson, e-mail: Margareta.Petersson@hum.vxu.se

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4. Course on Gender and Infectious Diseases, 19 – 30 March 2001
Prof. Vinod Diwan and Dr. Anna Thorson will give a course on ‘Gender and Infectious Diseases, a research training course,’ at The Nordic School of Puplic Health in Gothenburg.
Traditionally the process of infection has been regarded as a static, biological procedure, simply visualized as a chain reaction: exposure to microbe-infection by microbe-disease. That gender could be a determinant for this process has not been recognized until recently. However, a growing awareness of the importance of gender aspects of infectious diseases has developed during the last years and gender differences in infectious diseases in low-income countries have been subject to research in some settings.

The different activities that men and women undertake may lead to different exposure to infectious microbes, gender differences in the social stigma associated with infectious diseases may influence access to health care and health-seeking behavior, differences in nutritional status between men and women may have consequences for the cure rate of disease etc. For future program implementation and research activities it is of importance that the gender aspect is considered in relation to infectious diseases.

Main objectives:
To discuss the gender specific epidemiology of the major infectious diseases globally and to study how social and biological factors interact in the creation of differences in epidemiological data. Further, the course will examine in depth how the gender concept relates to some of the major infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and STDs, malaria and TB.
To analyse how research and treatment program implementations against infectious diseases have been subject to a gender bias
To discuss the relations between gender and other structural determinants such as race, ethnicity, poverty and social class and how these factors interact in the process of diagnosing and curing infectious diseases. The course will discuss practical approaches to policy development for gender equity.

Teaching objectives:
It is aimed that after the course the students will have:
• basic knowledge in the gender concept and gender theories and how these relate to health and health systems;
• knowledge in the global distribution of the major infectious diseases and how and why epidemiological data differ between men and women;
• knowledge in how social and biological factors interrelate and affect the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases in men and women;
• knowledge in the development of gender sensitive implementation strategies

Teaching methods:
Teaching will be carried out through lectures, seminars and group sessions. Students will be encouraged to take an active part in the classroom, and students are expected to contribute with their own work experiences

Literature:
Course literature will consist of selected chapters from books on the Gender concept and Gender and health as well as chosen scientific articles relevant for the topics studied.

Course leader: Professor Vinod K Diwan, Dr Anna Thorson
Other faculty: The course will utilise researchers and teachers from both the Nordic and low and middle-income countries
Please contact Rose Wesley Lindahl, course secretary,
The Nordic School of Public Health
PB 12133
SE-402 42 GOTHENBURG
e-mail rose@nhv.se
Telephone: +46 (0) 31 69 39 34
Fax +46 31 69 17 77

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5. Nordic Centre in India
Since a meeting in Uppsala in June last year, an Interim Working Group consisting of Gunilla Green-Eklund (Uppsala), Pamela G Price (Oslo), Peter B Andersen (Copenhagen), and Stig Toft Madsen (Roskilde) has been working to establish the Nordic Centre in India. The group has now selected a place in New Delhi, and expect to be able to open the Centre rather soon. Also, the group has drawn up statutes for a Consortium that will create and run the Centre. The founding meeting is expected to take place in Copenhagen on April 18th, 19th or 20th., 2001

Further information about the Nordic Centre is available at http://www.sasnet.lu.se/research.html#nordic

Stig Toft Madsen

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6. The Tamil Summer School at the French Institute, Pondicherry
The Tamil Summer School is an intensive six-week programme conducted every year in July-August since 1998. It is organised by the Department of Social Sciences of the French Institute in collaboration with Pondicherry University and with various academic institutions in and around Tamil Nadu, and this year in collaboration with the Department of Indology of the French Institute and some abroad institutions. The medium of instruction is English and Tamil. The stress of the TSS is on spoken Tamil rather than on the classical and written forms taught in European Universities.
Two levels of spoken Tamil courses will be offered this year: Basic and Intermediate. The TSS provides a chance to scholars to have linguistic tools to do field studies in Tamil and to those who are trained in the written form to be able to communicate in Tamil Nadu and other Tamil-speaking areas.

Participants
Intermediate level: Eligible participants are students or researchers from French or foreign universities or institutions, who have studied Tamil for at least one year and have a good knowledge of basic grammar.
Basic level: Eligible participants are students or researchers from French or foreign universities or institutions, who have not studied Tamil.
Please note, priority will be given to scholars who plan to conduct field studies in Tamil Nadu.

Students will be divided into two or three classes according to their proficiency in Tamil and according to the number of students registered (about 6 students per class).
The school has so far enrolled students from Inalco (Paris), Heidelberg and Cologne Universities in Germany, Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England, Charles University, Prague in Czech Republic, Tokyo University in Japan and the School of Oriental and African Studies (London), University of Chicago, etc. Students are encouraged to apply for fellowship from their own university.

Enrolment starts in January every year and registration will be closed on the 30th April. It is based on one's biodata; kindly send it in advance to reserve your seat. Preference is given to research scientists. Registration fees for 2001 will be Rs. 12,000 (around 300 EUR). Registration to the TSS will be effective upon receipt of a cheque for the equivalent amount payable to the French Institute.
Class Schedule for 2001: 16 July - 25 August 2001

For Information Contact:
Tamil Summer School
French Institute 11, Saint-Louis Street
P.B 33 PONDICHERRY 605 001 (INDIA)
Tel : (91 413) 334168-334170 Fax : 339534
Email : ifpssc@vsnl.com

(Kindly put Tiare TSS in subject)
Web site : www.ifpindia.org
More detailed information is available with SASNET via e-mail or with Prof. Gunilla Gren Eklund, Indology, Uppsala: Gunilla.Gren-Eklund@afro.uu.se